Local Citizens Advice service welcomes announcement that no-fault evictions are to be banned
The Citizens Advice service covering Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford has responded to the Government’s announcement that that it will consult on scrapping section 21 “no-fault” evictions in the private rented sector.
““We welcome that the Government propose to end Section 21 (no fault) evictions.
“This area of law is complicated and we hope that any changes will help make it less complicated whilst maintaining current levels of protection for tenants, particularly in relation to those sanctions which apply for non-compliance with tenancy deposit and gas safety regulations.
“As a service, we look forward to responding to the consultation and providing the Government with the invaluable evidence that our service has through our work with clients in this area””
Across Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford, last year the local Citizens Advice supported nearly 2,500 people with housing problems - almost 800 of those in the private-rented sector.
Research from Citizens Advice nationally found more than 2 in 5 tenants say fear of eviction prevents them talking to their landlord about disrepair.
Tenants who made a formal complaint to either their local authority or to a redress scheme had a 46% chance of being issued with a section 21 eviction notice in the following 6 months, the research from March 2018 found.
Citizens Advice nationally found revenge evictions have affected 141,000 tenants since laws attempting to ban revenge evictions were introduced in 2015.
Nearly half of tenants (44%) who experienced delays in getting repairs done by their landlord said fear of eviction would stop them from continuing to negotiate about the disrepair.
There are 1.7 million families with dependent children renting privately, according to the English Housing Survey.
Notes to editors:
Contact: press@castockport.org.uk
The Citizens Advice service covering Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford is a partnership including Citizens Advice Pennine West and Citizens Advice Stockport working together through a formal collaboration agreement to jointly deliver services in the local authority areas.
Together in 2018, the charity helped 35,000 unique clients with 74,500 issues
The top three advice issues are; Benefits & Tax Credits (includes Universal Credit), Debt, and Housing.